


Sandbox Love Never Dies

by char1ynch



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Girls Kissing, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Smut, minor kyle spencer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-03 20:46:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16333169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/char1ynch/pseuds/char1ynch
Summary: Zoe is a new student at Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies and she runs into Madison, who happens to be an old friend.





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning: Rape is implied so please proceed with caution.

Zoe couldn’t deny the nervousness she felt as she climbed out of the taxi in front of her temporary place of living. The wind blew her long hair around her face as she made her way up the narrow walkway, to the looming yet pristine mansion. As she climbed the somewhat steep stairs, she noticed that the door was slightly ajar and that made her feel confused and even more nervous, although that didn’t seem physically possible in that given moment. Everything inside of her screamed not to push the door all the way open but she ignored those feelings due to the fact that she was becoming cold and that the two trains she had taken to get here made her feel a great sense of fatigue and she wanted nothing more than to just go inside, get set up, and fall into the abyss of sleep. She expected to see a multitude of girls her age mingling around inside but it was eerily quiet, no one in sight. She left the door cracked behind her and ventured through the main hall, to the sitting area. The sitting area was spotless, just as she had expected it to be, but was just as vacant as the other areas of the house that were visible to her. She ran her finger across the top of a photograph encased by an old wooden frame. It was taken outside of the house she was now standing in, but something was off about the way the house looked. The young girl in the photograph was smiling but something about her smile scared Zoe, in more ways that she could begin to explain. She shook her head quickly and moved her hand away from the photograph, not liking the feeling that it was giving her. She continued her trek through the spacious house, pausing every so often to examine a figurine or a photograph that framed the floral printed wallpaper until she was familiar with almost every object in the main sitting room. She heard a door creak from down the hallway and she whipped her head to the side, expecting to see nothing but getting the shock of her life when a figure dressed in a black robe and red mask lunged towards her, startling her into a run. She almost made it to the front door but she was blocked by yet another black robed figure. Terror gripped her by the throat as she pressed herself as tightly as she could against the wall, wishing that she never set foot into the place, wished she was normal and didn’t have to be at a school for basically freaks. One of the figures got close enough to grip her upper arms and she fought aimlessly to struggle from their grasp but she was unsuccessful in doing so. The figure dragged her to the kitchen table and held her down, motioning to something or someone out of her limited line of vision and her stomach dropped to her feet as two more figures joined them in the room, one coming to assist the already powerful figure holding her against her will and the other raising a knife high above their head. A scream escaped from her throat as she threw up her hand as best as she could to protect herself and the pressure on her arms ceased as dainty laughs filled the room. She quickly sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, observing the people who she now knew were girls and their playful expressions. 

“Relax, we’re just messing with you.” An oddly familiar voice said, and once Zoe had opened her eyes again, her heart nearly stopped at the sight in front of her. Standing in front of her was movie star Madison Montgomery, but also the girl she had been childhood best friends with, the girl who always kissed the bruises she received from playing too roughly with the neighborhood boys, the girl who taught her how to ride a bike and french braid her hair, the girl who had undoubtedly been the girl who made her realize her bisexuality before she moved away from her childhood hometown and losing contact with her. 

M-Madsie? Is that really you?? Her voice was shaky and she was honestly unsure of whether or not she could stutter the question out but her voice was clear and realization dawned on Madison. She knew this girl, Zoe Benson, the one person that had showed Madison nothing but love, which is what she had craved all of her life. The girl who third wheeled on her dates because Madison was afraid to be alone with boys because she had been around enough to know how their minds work. The girl who watched movies with her and always fell asleep halfway through, right before the good parts of the movie had even happened. The girl she had tried so hard to hate but seeing her now made all those bittersweet memories from a simpler time come rushing back to her, memories she had tried so goddamn hard to repress since Zoe had left her all those years ago. 

“Uh, my name is Madison, and I definitely would have remembered seeing someone as boring and bland as you. Have you tried investing in an actual tasteful wardrobe sweetheart?” Madison knew she was being unfair but the aggressive comment had escaped her mouth before she had even realized it and judging by the hurt look on Zoe’s face, there was no way to backtrack. 

“Sorry, just thought you were someone I knew. My mistake.” Zoe mumbled, pushing herself off of the table and moving past her to retrieve the charm bracelet that had fallen off in her attempts to struggle out of Queenie’s tight grip. Her breath caught in her throat as she observed the charms from afar. There was an M still dangling from the delicate silver chain, even after all the time that had passed since Madison had given it to her. She also spotted the gold heart that she already knew had their initials carved onto the back of it. ‘Zoe and Madison, best friends forever.’ She shook her head at such a now ridiculous thought and looked away, fiddling with the chain that she wore around her neck, hoping that it would clear her mind of all those unwanted memories and luckily for her, many of them faded away but a few still burned bright behind her eyelids. Their first vacation together, their first meeting, Madison’s first heartbreak, Zoe’s first kiss, all the times Zoe had punched boys in the nose for thinking they could take advantage of her best friend. She groaned in frustration as she pulled harder and harder at the chain until it broke apart between her fingers and that pissed her off even more. She threw the chain on the floor and hiked up the stairs, ignoring the questioning glances from her fellow sister witches. She flopped down onto her bed and closed her eyes, memories like a kaleidoscope behind her closed eyelids, making her dizzy.

“Um, sorry for interrupting whatever you got going on right now but Miss Goode told me that I was to room with you, so.” Madison’s eyes popped open and she let out a sigh that was a mix of exasperation and frustration. She locked eyes with the shy girl lumbering in the doorway and with a nod of her head, she allowed access to the slightly cramped bedroom. Zoe scurried to the unoccupied bed and sat down, folding her hands on top of her thighs. She couldn’t stop looking at the girl on the bed across from her, who looked even more beautiful than she had remembered her to be. Her appearance hadn’t changed at all, save for the length of her hair, that was now just a little over her shoulders. Her eyes were the same green ones she had found herself getting lost in so many times, the eyes she had found the most comfort in, the eyes she knew she could never forget no matter how much she tried to. Madison looked over quickly and she dropped her eyes to her hands, not wanting her to know that she had been watching her. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and walked over to her wardrobe, rifling through her endless amount of clothes and eventually tossing something over to Zoe, who barely had time to catch it with her hands before it smacked into her face. 

“Get dressed, we’re going to a party tonight. I figured you didn’t have anything appropriate in your limited amount of clothes so I’m letting you borrow some of mine out of the kindness of my heart.” Madison stated sarcastically, watching the younger girls hands run over the fabric laying across her lap. They locked eyes once again but this time, neither of them bothered to break the eye contact. Zoe imagined running her hands through the fiery girls hair as she slept on her lap or pressing her lips against hers and tasting her watermelon flavored chapstick, something she knew was a favorite of hers. She knew there was no getting out of this party so she went to the bathroom and slipped into the uncomfortable dress, hating the way it clung to her slim frame but also loving the way it accuenated her curves. She ran her fingers through her hair and put on a very thin line of lipgloss and she was party ready. When she came back into the bedroom, she was shocked by the sight in front of her. Her childhood best friend was lounging on her bed, clothed in nothing but her underwear, presumably waiting for her roomate to finish in the bathroom so she could have her turn. Zoe’s cheeks blushed scarlet and she tried to ignore the sight of Madison’s perfect figure. When they were children, the younger girl was a lot more confident that her older friend was, often wearing crop tops and boy shorts in the summer while her best friend opted on t-shirts and blue jeans. Now, their roles were definitely reversed; Madison was this perfect example of main stream movie star actress who knew exactly how to get what she wanted while Zoe was the before picture of a plain jane. 

“We leave in 10 minutes.” She said over her shoulder as she disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. 

 

Zoe had never been to a party before, in fact, she planned to never attend one in her life. But the way Madison was so demanding about it, she found herself oblige without resistance. She borrowed the simplest thing in her friend’s closet, and she actually thought she looked nice but once she had entered the crowded frat house, she felt like a prude. Nearly every female was dressed in a similar manner to her roomate, who looked confident and unrelenting in her party ensemble. She picked at the edge of the dress, attempting to tug it down as she tried to keep up with Madison, who weaved and zig zagged through the intoxicated college goers like an expert. Pretty soon, she found herself all alone, so she escaped to one of the less crowded areas and leaned up against the wall, her eyes searching for the only person she knew at this party. 

“You look thirsty.” A male voice called out and she turned to lock eyes with a blonde smiling boy who looked no older than 18. She forced a smile onto her face and angled her body to stand in front of his, wondering why he was even talking to a nerd like her.

“Is that your superpower, you can sense dehydration?” She said smoothly, trying to remain interested in conversation when that was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. She had a terrible feeling and she felt sick to her stomach. 

“Yeah, one of them.” He laughed and she couldn’t help but join him. There was something about his laugh that was just infectious and she couldn’t resist the urge. She talked to him for a few more minutes and she found out that his name was Kyle and that this was his fraternity house but he was just as uninterested in the party as she was. Kyle was super sweet and easygoing and she liked talking to him but he wasn’t Madison, and that just rubbed her the wrong way. 

“I’m sorry, but I have to go find my friend so we don’t get in trouble with the headmistress of the boarding school we attend.” She turned to go but he grabbed her wrist, halting her movements.

“Do you want me to help you?” He asked loud enough for her to hear over the booming music and she nodded once. He let go of her wrist and together, they searched the entire bottom floor, to no avail. They made the choice to split up, with Kyle going upstairs and her remaining downstairs and she talked to a few party guests that weren’t utterly intoxicated with no luck. She stood by the base of the stairs, trying to look for any sign of Madison or Kyle either one, but is unsuccessful. She took a deep breath before beginning to climb the stairs, practically having to ride the banister due to the limited space on the narrow staircase. When she got to the end of the hallway, she saw that a crowd was formed in front of one of the rooms, and loud commotion was ensuing from it. She pushed herself through the crowd to see what was going on but she was pressed against the wall by the ever growing crowd and she was furious. That emotion was short-lived however, when total chaos broke out. She was jolted and jerked and shoved as the inebriated number of teens stampeded down the stairs, police sirens growing closer and closer to the frat house.

“Zoe, she’s in there!” Kyle yelled as he took off past her, chasing after a group of supposed frat boys, some buckling their pants back as they stumbled over each other to get away from the threat of being arrested and the lecture she was sure they were going to be given by their fraternity leader. She rushed into the room and the sight in front of her was enough to make bile rise up in her throat. There was Madison, lying on the bed, her dress bunched up around her frail hip bones. She rushed to the bedside, kneeling down so that she was level with her face.

“Hey Madison, I’m here, I’m here.” She choked out, brushing her hair away from her face. Her mascara was running down her face along with a fresh set of tears but she was conscious enough to know that it wasn’t one of those monstrous boys but rather the gentle and familiar face of her childhood best friend, who looked heartbroken and disgusted at the same time. 

“Come on, we have to get you out of here.” She lifted her gently from the bed and allowed her to use her body as a crutch and they escaped the frat house as fast as Zoe was willing to go to keep her unresponsive roommate as comfortable as possible and once they had gotten outside, they started their short descent home. Sometime along the walk, Madison became conscious and she felt her mind being turned on like a switch and with one look, the bus the frat boys had gotten on to escape the police flipped and crashed, which made her feel slightly better about what had happened but not much. They walked the rest of the distance to the academy in silence, and it wasn’t until they had silently crept back into the house and into the comfort of their room that the silence was finally broken.

“Thank you.” Madison murmured quietly, the words feeling unfamiliar in her mouth since she had not expressed much gratitude to anyone since she and Zoe lost contact but the words didn’t burn her tongue or leave an awful bitter taste in her mouth like she had expected them to, they actually felt kind of nice to say to someone that wasn’t herself, especially if they were said to someone that she had hidden feelings for since she was a young teenager.

“You’re welcome.” She said softly, going into the bathroom to change her clothes. Once she had locked herself in the bathroom, she slid down the tile wall and buried her head in her hands, blaming herself over and over again for what had happened to her friend, hot tears falling down her exhausted face. She dragged herself up off of the floor and dressed almost robotically, exiting the bathroom and praying the older girl had fallen asleep. Thankfully, she had or at least that’s what it appeared as when she returned to their shared bedroom, very quietly climbing under the duvet to not disturb her or the rest of her sleeping housemates. She laid on her side, the front part of her body facing the wall, her eyes wide open. She heard the stifled sobs that were coming from across the room and after 5 minutes or so, she climbed out of her bed and walked to the other side of the room. Madison wordlessly moved over, giving her some space as she climbed under the covers, her face inches from the blonde lying next to her. They didn’t speak, they just observed each other under the moonlight peeking in from the window, before falling asleep to the company of one another.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how both Madison and Zoe are coping after the events of the frat party.

It had been a few weeks since her arrival at the academy and she already felt as if she was at home. After Madison flipped the bus full of frat boys that traumatic night a few weeks prior, she swore revenge on any survivor of the bus crash, and promised both herself and her best friend that she was going to make them pay. When she caught wind of the main frat boy Archie being one of the only survivors, she snuck out of the house and used the curse bestowed upon her to her advantage, and she left the hospital feeling relieved that he couldn’t hurt her emotionally damaged friend again. When she found out what Zoe had did for her, she wanted to bring Kyle back from the dead, but she graciously denied the tempting offer, wanting such a sweet and caring boy to finally be able to rest in peace. However, that induced a fight between them and they hadn’t spoken since then, but Zoe heard her painful cries in the shower at night when she thought she was masking them with the flow of the shower and wanted nothing more than to hold her as tight and close as she possibly could, battling her demons for her so she didn’t think that she had to do it alone. Today was like no other, she had attended her classes and worked on her skills to increase the newfound power she had discovered the night of the party, and then retreated to her room to read a book while the other witches were left to their own devices. She was reaching the climax of the book she was immersed in when the door slammed open and in walked Madison, looking as deadly and radiant as she normally did, but there was something off about her aura; a certain sadness hung over her like a dark cloud that she was so desperately trying to hide from anyone paying attention but she knew the blonde better than that. She marked her place in the book in her hands and she tossed it to the end of the bed, swinging her legs so that her feet were touching the ground and she was facing the bed across the room that her friend lounged on, who was scrolling through her twitter feed or some other form of social media she had created when she was still big as an actress. The room was tense and uncomfortable, and she hated feeling like that around the older girl, but there was nothing she could really do, she couldn’t be the only person that put in effort to communicate and she’d be damned if that’s what the other girl had in her head. She expected people to fall at her feet, to clamber at the chance to be her friend and beg for her forgiveness if they did something to blemish the trust she had given them, but she wasn’t going to do that, she had never begged or bowed down to anyone before, and she certainly wasn’t going to start now.

“Do you need something?” Madison snapped, her ears piercing the brunette to the core, trying to intimidate her, but she wouldn’t back down. She sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap, staring at her with just as much cruelness in her eyes that her friends contained and they were locked in a stare off until she finally scoffed and disappeared into the bathroom, bolting the door behind her. Zoe smiled silently to herself as she rolled back onto her stomach and grabbed the book she was reading earlier, immersing herself once again into a story that could not be as fucked up as her own.

 

It was later that night and Zoe had long since finished her book, which led to her going on a mini exploration of the house to further familiarize herself with the place she was now calling home. She ran her hand over various paintings and photographs and antiques but nothing peaked her interest as it should have. She weaved in and out of different rooms, whether they were occupied or unoccupied, and she enjoyed the quiet for once. She had grown to love all the girls at the academy, but they fought like cats and dogs, and she could easily say that it annoyed her to the ends of the earth but because she cared so deeply for all of them, she didn’t say anything about the petty arguments or use of magic to hurt one another, she just kept to herself like she always had even before finding out that she was a witch. 

“I’m a fuckup, I deserved it, just like I deserved every other shitty thing that’s happened to me.” She knew that voice anywhere, it was Madison, crying in the shower like she had done late at night for the past few weeks. She took a deep breath and quietly knocked on the door, hoping she would answer. She heard a sniffle and the padding of feet and the door flung open, revealing the blonde in nothing but a towel.

“What do you want?” She snapped, her voice hard but her eyes soft and sad. She tried to keep up the tough girl act and it was really starting to fucking annoy her but she pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

“I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. You were crying pretty loudly in there, kinda hard to ignore.” Her face fell and she looked truly embarrassed and Zoe felt bad about admitting that she had heard the older witch letting out her sadness in the only way she really knew how to, by crying in solitude so no one could judge her but she couldn’t necessarily take the words back so she just stood there, biting her tongue.

“What I do on my own time is none of your goddamn business so please, just fuck off. God, you’ve been like a fucking leech since you arrived here and it seems that you’re lonely, or craving something. So tell me, black widow, what is it that you’re craving?” She crossed her arms across her chest, water droplets from the ends of her hair rolling down her exposed porcelain skin, momentarily distracting Zoe from answering the question she had just been asked. She didn’t have to think much on what it was she wanted, she wanted love and a connection with someone, both physically and emotionally but she knew that was impossible because of this shitty curse that had just somehow chosen to ruin HER life in particular. However, she didn’t want to tell the expectant girl standing impatiently in front of her such a personal answer so she said the first thing that popped into her head.

“I crave alcohol. I crave an escape from this place, even if it’ll fuck me up in the morning.” She looked pleased with her answer and smirked, uncrossing her arms and walking down the hall to their shared bedroom, going into her closet and rummaging through her endless selection of clothes before finding what it was she was searching for. She walked out of the closet, her fist closed around a bottle of vodka and trouble in her eyes. 

“Let me get dressed and then we can finally get this party started.” She set the vodka on the dresser and walked out of the bedroom once again and into the bathroom, leaving Zoe alone to regret saying she wanted an escape through an alcoholic beverage. She had never been drunk before so she had no idea what kind of drunk she would be. Would she be the drunk that cries about all of her problems or the horny drunk who wants to fuck everyone within the vicinity of her? She didn’t have much more time to ponder before Madison emerged from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a long t-shirt dress. She grabbed the bottle off of the dresser before sitting down cross legged on the floor in front of the mirror. She looked up at her, telling her to sit down with her eyes, to which the brunette obliged hesitantly.

“Never knew such a plain jane like you would actually want to get hammered. Don’t worry though, I’ll take good care of you in whatever state you end up in. Fair warning though, I’m a horny drunk so if I’m all over you, just shove me aside or whatever.” She unscrewed the lid and threw her head back, taking a long drink, wiping her mouth off as she passed the bottle to her, not bothering to look at her take her first drink. The vodka burned her nose as it went down her esophagus and she coughed violently as she passed the bottle back to the blonde, who was waiting for it. She greedily drank from the bottle, her eyes flitting to hers every few seconds. They took turns passing the bottle back and forth until there was nothing but dregs left but they were too drunk to notice. Just as she had stated, Madison was all over her, trying to squeeze her breast and kiss her sloppily and she just pushed her off every time until she began to speak.

“You’re so pretty ZOEEEEEEEEE, you’re like, the p-prettiest girl in the universe.” She giggled as she laid her head on her lap, smiling up at her. She didn’t know what to say, she knew her friend was clearly wasted, but her words were still enough to leave her a blushing mess. She was pretty tipsy herself so she went along with it, exchanging flirty comments with the blonde who still had her head resting comfortably on the tops of her bare thighs. 

“You know, I lied about not knowing you, I do. I remember everything, y-you left and took my damaged heart with you.” Madison sounded as if she was going to cry and she quickly helped her sit up and cupped her face between her hands.

“If it was my choice, I never would have left. You know that.” She said seriously, all traces of her questionable sobriety evaporating as she looked deep into the blondes hazel eyes. They didn’t speak, they just stared at one another. Eventually, she pulled away and helped her to her bed, tucking her in and making sure she was comfortable before getting into her own bed, laying on her side to face the bed across the room that held the sleeping form of her friend, who looked peaceful and absolutely stunning even in sleep. She eventually drifted off to sleep but not before the memories of all the time she spent with Madison when they were younger rushed over her in waves, leaving her feeling bittersweet and lonely as she fell into the abyss of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is super rushed lol but I thought the idea of them getting drunk together and being honest with one another would be a good way to progress into the romantic part of their relationship. This may be a short chapter but it’s really significant for them and I really hope you all enjoyed it. I’m half asleep right now so if there are typos or sumn, pls tell me so i can go back and change them. Kudos and comments are as always, greatly appreciated, all the love x.  
> also i felt like i should explain why Kyle isn't in this fanfiction. I really hate the love triangle they have going on in the show and I just didn't want to make Zyle canon, i'm sorry to all disappointed readers that were hoping for Zyle romantic interactions ://


	3. Mémoire Amère

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madison’s point of view and reflection on the day Zoe moved away and ultimately broke her heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter name is the french word for bitter memory so this chapter is going to be the painful memory Madison has of Zoe leaving her.

July 12th, 2007:

School had just let out for the summer and 13 year old Madison Montgomery was dying to begin her summer vacation alongside her best friend Zoe, who was disappointed that school had ended as it was her only way to be able to focus on something beside her impending move, which she had yet to tell her best friend. They walked down the sidewalk arm in arm, as the sun clung to their skin, and she basked in the heat on her skin, basked in this moment with her favorite person in the whole wide world who, unbeknownst to her, was leaving her indefinitely in a few days time. It was a short walk to Madison’s house, and when she got home, she wasn’t surprised to find her parents gone just like they always were but it didn’t bother her as much as it should have because she had her best friend with her, and she was all she would ever need in this world. Two years ago, the girls had declared the last official day of school consist of a sleepover, and they had stuck with the tradition ever since then. They would walk to whoever’s house the sleepover was going to be at, and they proceeded to stay up all night and watch movies and give each other makeovers and just things that were normal at a teenage girls slumber party and both girls adored it, adored spending time with one another. 

“Do you want to walk to the store for some snacks?” She turned but quickly pursed her lips when she saw that Zoe was laying on the couch, fast asleep, flyaway hairs sticking to her face, which had a sheen layer of sweat and worn off makeup. She smiled at the sight and went over to the chair opposite of the couch, curling up and closing her eyes. Her dreams were filled with smiles and laughs and bad jokes, all belonging to her dorky best friend, who was really all she ever dreamt about whenever she had the luxury of sleeping. Everyone, yes even her best friend, didn’t know about just how bad her home life really was. When her parents were home, they were verbally and very often psychically abusive towards her, often shaming her for her grades or who she called her friends, but they didn’t dare try to badmouth Zoe because they knew that was the only thing in the world keeping her around, and what would happen if they didn’t have their punching bag around waiting for the next blow? And because they had said something about the way she dressed and she had ran away to her aunts house, who just sent her right back into the cruel household that she unfortunately called home. She hid the bruises and scratches as well as she could when her mother was in a bad mood because she didn’t want to be pitied by anyone, she just wanted to keep all of that away from her best friend, who was thankfully oblivious to the whole situation. In her thirteen years of life, Zoe was the only person to show her love, and she hoped that she would never lose that or her for that matter, she didn’t know what she would do if she didn’t have the doe eyed brunette in her life. To put it quite simply, she was the best version of herself possible whenever she was with her and everyone knew that, hell even their peers did, who were quite envious of the friendship the two girls had together. Whenever they were together, no matter what they were doing, they were always laughing and having fun because that’s just how comfortable the two were with each other.

“Hey Madsie, it’s 8pm, wake upppppp.” Her eyes popped open and she was greeted by the smiling face of Zoe, which was an utter relief to her. She sat up and she allowed herself to be pulled up out of the plush comfortable chair and guided up the grand staircase by her best friend, who held onto her hand so tightly as if she was never going to get the chance to hold it again after this very moment, which made her slightly anxious. When they had arrived in her room, Zoe plopped on the bed and sighed heavily, staring up at the ceiling with sadness swimming in her hazel eyes, which was an unfamiliar sight to her.

“Are you okay Zo?” She asked, lying down at the foot of the bed, propping herself up on one elbow as she observed the girl laying on the bed with her, who looked torn by something inside of her head.

“Um, there’s something I need to talk to you about, I honestly should have told you months ago, when I first found out, but I was scared of how you would react.” She fiddled with her nimble fingers, refusing to meet the blondes eyes. Her stomach dropped as the endless negative possibilities formed into a hand and choked the air out of her lungs. She struggled to breathe as she sat up, folding her legs underneath her and folding her hands in her lap, resisting the urge to start picking at her skin, which was something she did whenever she was upset or anxious. 

“Madison, I’m moving. I’m not sure where yet, but my mom got a job promotion and the benefits were so good for us, for our family, that my mom couldn’t pass up the offer. I wanted to tell you so so so badly but I didn’t have the heart because I knew it would hurt you, and that’s the last thing I ever want to do.” Her heart dropped down to her feet and she struggled to breath once again as the news settled into her bones. Zoe was leaving her? After she promised she never would? So many emotions were overwhelming her at that moment and she dug her fingernails deep into her skin, not even feeling the slight sting she felt whenever she would normally do the self harming technique.

“H-how l-long?” She managed to choke out as the tears threatened to spill over onto her flustered cheeks. She couldn’t even look at the girl that was sitting inches away from her, she knew that if she did, the tears would leave their place in her eyes and make camp on the material of her shirt and her lavender comforter, which she and Zoe had made together at summer camp, which seemed a lifetime away now.

“Two days.” She said quietly, looking at her heartbroken best friend, who still refused to look at her. She reached out to touch her hand and she flinched away, which caused her to drop her hand back into her lap. 

“Please don’t be angry with me. It’s not my fault that I have to leave, if it were up to me, I would stay with you forever. But I can’t, and I’m so sorry for that.” Zoe was crying now, which broke her heart even more than she thought possible. She crawled across the bed and flung her arms around her neck, hugging her so tightly that she was afraid that if she let go, she would slip through her fingers like sand, and she would be alone once more which is the last thing the blonde girl wanted. The rest of the night was awkward so they decided to retire to bed early, which was fine with both of the girls. Madison clung to Zoe in her sleep and Zoe clung to Madison just as tightly, the only comfort that could be given to them was solely by each other.

 

The next two days passed by in a blur, and before both of them knew it, it was time to say goodbye.

“We can still talk, write letters and skype each other, we can make this work Madsie, I know we can.” She touched her best friends tear streaked cheek and pulled her to her body, holding her as tightly as she possibly could, inhaling her scent for the last time. Madison began to heave and Zoe just held her wordlessly, stroking her long blonde hair and whispering reassuring words in her ear that she knew had no real truth to them. She eventually pulled away and tilted her chin to look into her eyes.

“I love you Madison Montgomery and I will make sure that you never have to permanently be without me. I’ll try to write you everyday and skype with you every night before bed. Just please promise me you won’t go off of the deep end, please.” Her eyes were glassy and pleading and she had no choice but to promise her younger friend that she would try to be sane without her, but they both knew in their hearts one of them would go off of the deep end, they were just unsure of which one it would be.

“I love you even more Zoe Benson, don’t forget about me when you start to make new friends.”

“I could never forget you.” She said seriously, grasping her hands for the last time before pulling away hesitantly, not wanting to let go of her yet. She felt as if she was abandoning her, the girl who had hope in her eyes and stars in her smile, the one person in the world who knew her better than she knew herself, the person who she loved more than anyone else in her life, the person who she would never forget no matter where she ended up, the girl who made her believe that there were soulmates out there and she had been lucky enough to find hers, only to be ripped cruelly away from her by time. It wasn’t fair to either one of them, but you couldn’t barter with time, and she had to accept that with a thick tongue and broken heart. She watched the brunette climb into the backseat of the gray lexus and she raised her hand in a half hearted wave. They pulled away from the Montgomery household on the sweltering hot July day and along with ripping the two girls apart, they had taken the broken pieces of Madison’s heart with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so shitty sksks i told y’all i don’t know how to write endings… Anyways, this is more of a filler chapter but also Madison’s point of view the day Zoe left. I didn’t plan on doing this kind of chapter, but I felt it was important to know both sides of the story and not just Zoe’s yk? Kudos and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated. Thanks for all of the support. <3


	4. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> self explanatory by the chapter name.

The next morning, Zoe awoke to a pounding in her temples and the sound of very persistent knocking. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she trailed to the door, throwing it open to see her supreme, Cordelia, standing there. 

“You missed your lessons today and I just wanted to check on you.” Her voice was soft and her smile warm, but something was bothering her, she could tell just by the way she was carrying herself. Her shoulders were slumped forward and her eyes were tired but she still looked strong, undefeatable. She was afraid to speak, fearing that she would smell the vodka on her breath so she forged a smile and nodded once, hoping that would be enough answer for her.

“Well, I’m going out today with the other girls so you’re free to join us if you like but you look a tad bit under the weather.” Her face showed concern and she reached out to touch the side of her face, making the assumption that she was either checking for signs of a fever or another perfectly reasonable explanation. 

“No, I’m okay, just a bit tired. I think I’ll stay in today and do double in lessons tomorrow to catch up. I hope you have a good day out today miss Cordelia, see you when you get back.” She shut the door and locked it once more, flopping back onto her bed and closing her eyes with a sigh. She heard movement from across the room and she didn’t even bother to look up, already knowing that Madison was coming over to pester her. Soon enough, she felt the edge of her bed sink in and she opened one eye to look towards the direction of the bottom of the bed, a little uncomfortable with the way the blonde was staring her down.

“Um..” She slid up on her elbows and sat against the wall, propping her chin on her knees, choosing to avoid eye contact with the rageful older witch sitting inches away from her. They didn’t speak for a long time, they just snuck glances at one another when the other wasn’t looking and it wasn’t until the sound of the front door closing echoing through the house that she finally decided to break the silence.

“Are you um okay? You look kind of out of it.. And it’s not because of the insane amount of alcohol you consumed last night, I know it isn’t. There’s pain in your eyes, deep pain, and I would like to try to help you to process it, get it out of your system you know?” She wanted to help her simply because she knew what deep pain felt like, and she didn’t want the already emotionally fragile girl to have more pain added on to her. She saw what it did to her aunt Sabrina, and she didn’t want the same thing for Madison.

“Oh like you give a shit Zoe. You didn’t seem to care about my pain the day you left me did you?” Those words sucked the air out of the room and she found it hard to do basic involuntary actions such as the blood pumping to her heart to keep it beating or air getting to her lungs. She knew that she wasn’t crazy, she knew it. She knew that she had some connection to the older witch, but she failed to understand just how deep that connection ran, and now that she finally knew that this was the Madison she had loved for so long, she desperately wished she didn’t.

“I loved you so much Zoe, so so so much. I loved you more than anyone or anything in this world and everyone knew it, we knew it, our parents knew it, our fucking classmates knew it. The difference between the love we shared was that mine never went away, while yours did. The year after you left was the hardest year of my whole life and I was afraid I wouldn’t even be able to survive without you, and in a way, I guess I didn’t. The old Madison is gone, the pieces of her heart scattered in whatever shitty town you relocated to, but you didn’t try to piece it back together, you just left it buried in the dirt. You’re so cruel for that, so so cruel.” Tears were welling up in her eyes, and she was utterly speechless. She knew that the way she was being treated was unfair but she couldn’t help but feel that she deserved it, that she deserved every toxic word that she spit from her tongue but she couldn’t deny that the words hurt her nonetheless.

“Okay, I know you’re still upset with me, I don’t blame you, but you have to know that losing contact with you was out of my control. My parents banned me from talking to you because they thought that we were too attached and that it wasn’t healthy for either one of us. I wrote you letters but mom always placed them back in my room the next night, I still carry all of them with me just in case something like this came up. I tried to continue to love you, to be there for you, but I was physically unable to do so. So don’t you dare ever try to tell me that my love for you evaporated, because it didn’t. I don’t think anything could ever make it go away.” The room fell silent once again, and before the both of them knew it, their lips were pressed together. She was warm and safe and certain, just as she had remembered her to be the nights they would lie together in her bed and talk about things that were meaningless now. Madison’s fingers found their way into Zoe’s hair and they kissed each other as if their lives depended on it, touching and becoming reacquainted with one another after all the years that they were apart. By the time they pulled away from each other, their lips were swollen and their cheeks flushed bright red. They didn’t speak, they just found their way under Zoe’s blanket, holding each other just as they did when they were young teens, promising themselves to only each other.

 

Night had fallen, and Madison was fast asleep against her shoulder, a sliver of skin peeking out from her t-shirt dress, which she had worn to sleep the previous night. She ran her fingers over the crown of her head and through the soft blonde locks that she had loved so much when they were younger. She had woken from a fitful nightmare an hour earlier and she didn’t have the heart to wake up the girl next to her so she laid her head back on her pillow and observed the facial features that were in such close proximity she could reach out and touch them. The small practically invisible smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose that she tried to hard to cover up with makeup, the arch of her perfect dark eyebrow, the tip of her nose, the way her eyelashes rested across her skin as she slept, her lips that she couldn’t forget the taste of no matter what she did. In her eyes, Madison Montgomery was the epitome of imperfectly beautiful; While she definitely didn’t lack beauty in the physical department, she certainly did in the emotional/mental sense. She couldn’t blame the girl for trying so hard to paint this perfect picture of herself- wealth, endless amount of suitors, makeup crafted to perfection everyday, because she felt that if people knew what she was hiding inside, she would lose that admiration that people automatically gave to her because of how beautiful she was. But Zoe knew her, all sides there were to know of her, and she was certainly an enigma sometimes, but she loved her just the same and then some. That’s what love was to her, being there for someone even when you saw the ugly parts, because then it would just be superficial and plastic love, and no one ever really wanted something like that, no matter how many people claimed to be fine with it. She knew that one day, she wouldn’t have the love that she had with the girl sleeping next to her any longer, but she hoped that day was very far in the future. She had such a bad feeling that one of them was going to lose their lives when this was all said and done, and she prayed that it would be her rather than the blonde who had too much pain to stretch out across a century. As she listened to the soft breathing next to her, she made a vow to herself that no matter what happened, she would do absolutely anything for Madison Montgomery, even if it took her life in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm yeah I’m probably going to end this book in maybe 4 or so more chapters i’m not sure yet though. Thanks for all the support, your feedback is highly appreciated. x


	5. Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of self harm so please proceed with caution, thank you.

It had been a few weeks since the moment the teenage girls had shared and now Madison was as cold and distant as she was when she first arrived at the academy. Zoe was confused and hurt and had every intention on confronting her but before she had the opportunity to, the blonde mysteriously went missing. She had assumed she ran away to distance herself and it hurt but she had to take it with a grain of salt until she started noticing the behavior of the butler Spalding and the supreme Fiona, who were even more suspicious than they normally were. She knew the two were in kahoots together, she had known that he was around when Fiona was the same age as her, and she knew that she was responsible for his tongue being cut out of his head and she also knew that throughout all of that, he still remained completely loyal to the woman for whatever reason there was. One day, she was out with Queenie and Nan, running an errand for Cordelia, when she mentioned the idea of buying a ouija board to try to attempt to contact Madison to find out the truth behind her disappearance, to which they both begrudgingly agreed to. They purchased the board and hid it under her pillowcase until night had fallen and she was certain that it was just her and the other two teenage witches were the only ones that were awake in the house. She retrieved the board from her room and took it into the living room, sitting on the floor in a circle with Nan and Queenie on both sides of her. They began to use the board and received an answer rather quickly, the board had revealed to them that the blonde was in the attic somewhere and she didn’t even hesitate to say goodbye to the entity on the other side that she presumed to be her roommate and threw herself up the staircase, kicking the padlock off of the attic door with great force before entering inside the small space. She stopped however, when she saw the contents of the room. There were dolls of every variety cluttered onto multiple shelves that had taken over the wooden walls and she stepped over a huge pile and nearly fell on top of another box when she did so. She noticed a wooden box by the window, and she scampered over to it, kicking dolls of all sizes out of her footpath left and right, trying to see the contents of the box. When she finally reached the box, she didn’t stop to ponder what could be encased inside of it, all she wanted was to see if the spirit had been right after all. She threw off the lid and she nearly threw up at the smell. Sure enough, Madison’s rotted body was lying in the box, dressed in attire that looked eerily similar to what a number of the dolls that lined the shelves were wearing. There was a ribbon adorning her throat and she winced as she made contact with her decaying flesh to see what it was hiding. To her horror, there was a large gash across the base of her throat, which was no doubt the way she had died. She began to panic as she called for Queenie and Nan, who rushed right into the room and looked down at Madison’s corpse in the box. The two girls, who had really disliked the blonde, now only felt pity for Zoe and sadness for the situation at hand. She asked them shakily to help her to get her to the greenhouse so she could phone in an old friend who owed her a favor from a long time ago. When they had gotten her into the greenhouse, she stepped off to the side to phone Misty Day, who had helped her get out of a few sticky situations in the past. To her relief, the swamp witch had offered to help her in exchange for her protection against witch hunters that were very adamant on getting rid of her and every other witch that was a part of the coven and every witch in general. Together, they brought back Madison, and that’s when things really changed. It had been about two weeks since her blonde roommate had came back to the land of the living and Zoe was extremely worried about her, but she allowed her pride to rule over her, and she didn’t attempt to talk to her in any form, she just focused on her studies and her shorter stacks of books. She was laying on the bed when the door opened and in walked the older witch, her eyes vacant and her face blank of any emotion. She ignored her presence and walked straight into the bathroom, locking the door behind her like she always did. She just assumed that she was going to get into the shower, so she went back to the paperback laying on the bed in front of her and all was quiet for a few seconds before a loud crash came from the bathroom and she bolted off the bed and used her powers to throw the door open, the back of it making a big thud as it connected with the wall. Madison was crouched by the bathtub, a sharp piece of glass in her bloodied palm, and she felt nauseous as she stepped carefully over the glass littering the tile floor in an attempt to get to the blonde, who was shaking badly. She got the glass out of her grasp and examined her wrists, which sported two large gashes that poured the blood. 

“I was just trying to feel something.” She cried, burying her face in her hair as she applied pressure to her wrists in order to stop her from losing more blood. She helped her to her feet and together they walked into the bedroom and sat on her bed. She took her hand off of one of her frail wrists and was relieved to see that it had stopped bleeding as much as it was when she found her like that. The other wrist however still poured the blood and it was staining her hands but she didn’t care, what she cared about was the blonde crying in front of her, who looked so broken that she felt her own heart break too. 

“It’s okay, you’ll be okay. Mads, look at me.” She forced her chin up and she looked into her green eyes, hoping to see any type of emotion in them, but all she saw was nothing and that scared her far worse than any threat on her life ever could. She continued to apply pressure on her damaged wrist, ignoring the warm blood seeping in the cracks between her fingers. 

“Are you angry at me?” Her voice was small and sounded tired, and she didn’t want to make eye contact with her because she was afraid of what she would see when she looked into the face of the girl she loved. But she swallowed her fear and looked over at Madison, who looked just as emotionless as she knew that she would be. Her lips were cracking and her hair had become dull and she just looked sickly pale all the time and the circles under her eyes were more prominent than they had ever been and she was so so worried about her, what would happen if she didn’t allow herself to be helped.

“No Mads, I’m not angry with you. I just want you to get help, I just want you to let me in.” She hated how her voice cracked on the last word and she cleared her throat, using her free hand to push her hair behind her ear before fixating her gaze on the floor. She sounded entirely too dependent and she had never been that way before, not even when she felt the most alone in the world after she moved away from her best friend, and she certainly didn’t want Fiona to keep up in her mind that she was weak. She felt her powers strengthening and she had even mastered some of the seven wonders tests through practice, in secret of course. She was doing more coursework than any other student at the academy and truth be told, she was fucking tired of everything but not Madison, never her.  
“It’s not that simple, we’re not the same naive girls we were when we were 13, we’re mature and we’ve grown so much together and as individuals and I wish that I could trust you like I did then but I just can’t. I know this would be easier on your heart and the black hole that took the place of my own but I’ve never been about going the easy route, I’m too goddamn stubborn for that.” She finished with a bitter chuckle, refusing to meet the brunette’s searching eyes.

“We can help each other, I know we can. We have so many times before, I know that we can beat this. You just have to let me try.” She was crying now and the tears were flooding her vision but she didn’t care, she just let herself break down. She gently let go of her wrist and placed her head in her hands, tugging at the roots of her hair as her sobs grew gradually louder. 

“I’m so sorry Madison I am so so fucking sorry. I should have never left you, nor should I have let my pride and insecurity get in the way of how I feel about you. I’m such a fucking dumbass, how could I possibly be a powerful witch with how dumb I fucking am?” She slammed her open palms on her forehead and allowed her tears to drip down her face and onto the material of her shirt.

“Hey, you’re not a dumbass Zoe. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever had the chance of knowing and I honestly admire you so much more than you could ever even realize. I’m not angry with you for leaving anymore and I never really should have been in the first place, that was such a petty bitch move and I can’t believe I let anger rule over my feelings for you. I love you Zoe, always have, always will.” Hazel eyes met green ones and they exchanged a soft smile, a feathery touch, a fleeting kiss, before she took Madison’s hand in her own and traced her finger over the gash that would scar her wrist permanently. She bent down and pressed her lips softly against both of the gashes and sewed them up as best as her still shaking hands would allow. Afterwards, they laid in her bed, holding each other as if they would wilt away if they weren’t holding on to one another. Madison moved to lay on her side and she pressed her face against against the nape of her neck and closed her eyes, sighing blissfully as she felt the girl laying next to her intertwine their hands and hold them close to her heart, also letting out a sigh of bliss. She felt her eyes become heavy and she muttered one last thing under her breath before she allowed herself to succumb to the dreamland that was calling out to her;

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated x.


	6. Heal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter depicts physical & emotional abuse/ trauma + implied r/pe so if you are under 16, then I recommend not reading this chapter but if you think you can handle it, by all means, help yourself but don’t say I didn’t warn you.  
> I should probably add this since I didn’t in the beginning, but for the sake of this fanfiction, Zoe and Madison are both 18 as opposed to being 17 like they are on the show.

When she woke up the next morning, she was laying in bed all alone. She panicked slightly but then realized that Madison was probably just at classes, like she knew she should be, but her stomach was clenching fiercely and she barely felt like moving an inch so classes would just have to be something she attended tomorrow and she hoped that Cordelia would understand why she didn’t attend. She heard the doorknob turn and she raised her head just in time to see the blonde walk through the doorway and shut the door behind her. She walked over to her and placed one hand on her cool forehead.

“Doesn’t feel like you have a fever but let me go raid the medicine cabinet just to be sure.” She said before turning to leave but she caught her wrist in her hand, preventing her from leaving.

“Lay with me.” She said quietly as she shifted and turned onto her side, waiting for the bed beside her to dip but to her disappointment, it didn’t. She turned over to face the older girl but she was disappointed once more to see that she had disappeared, presumably to go find medicine for her, which really was a complete relief as she felt like shit and wanted to hide in the confines of the bedroom all day and night long. When she returned to the room, she shut the door behind her and padded over to the bed, holding a glass of water and a few colored tablets in the other and she held them out to her, waiting patiently for her to swallow them so she could place the empty cup on the nightstand and sit on the edge of the bed.

“It’s too bad that you’re sick Zo, I was really hoping that we could go catch a movie or something tonight. Maybe there’s a herbal tea or something that you can drink to help cope with your illness better because being in this house is driving me crazy and you’re the only person that I can actually tolerate being around at the moment.” She looked sad, but there was also something else affecting her, and so she sat up and grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

“You can talk to me about anything, you know that right?” Madison looked up at her with those big green eyes and a flash of hesitancy flickered across her pupils but she nodded once, bringing their joined hands to her mouth and pressing a kiss to the soft skin on the back of her hand, which smelled faintly of lavender and vanilla. 

“Hey, look at me. Madison, I’m here for you always okay? I’m not leaving you ever again you understand me? I’m here.” She brushed her hair away from her face and she wrapped her arms around the blonde’s frail shoulders and pulled her to her chest, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head as she felt her body slightly heave as her tears stained the material of Zoe’s shirt but she could care less, all she cared about was the girl who was holding onto her as if she would float away if she let her go. She comforted her and stroked her hair until her crying quieted and she slowed pulled herself out of the brunette’s embrace, instantly finding her hand and turning towards her with puffy and red eyes.

“Um this is really hard for me to talk about but after you left, my parents, more specifically my father, started staying at home more often and it became nearly unbearable for me to be there. It was my dad who pushed me into pursuing becoming an actress and it was him who paid those boys to…” She trailed off, her hands starting to violently shake and she gripped her hands in her own, trying to show her that she was there for her, and it seemed to work.

“Anyways, my father was a greedy asshole and he allowed those boys, my costars and any other boy he saw fit, to beat me if I didn’t follow his orders. The worst thing is my mom knew, and she did nothing to stop it because she was so afraid of my dad. After a while, I became numb to it all and that’s when the sleeping around and drug addiction started. I did anything possible to feel anything, whether it was to fuck around with females and males alike or snort cocaine up my nose until I was so high I forgot who I was but nothing worked. In fact, it made things worse. I was numb and addicted to cocaine, which is nothing I planned, I just tried to feel anything no matter what the emotion was. But the truth was that I was completely and utterly alone, and that in return made me become an empty vessel, a shell of who I was when I still had you. That was a dark time period in my life, and I wanted to blame you so badly for it, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. Until I started to feel things, more specifically anger, and I found it easy to blame it all on you, so that’s what I did. I’m so sorry for that Zoe, I am so fucking sorry.” Tears welled up in her eyes for the third time and she swiped at them, cursing herself for smearing her mascara even more. Madison Montgomery was not one to cry, especially three times in the span of 15 minutes, but the doe eyed brunette looking at her with sad eyes made her vunerable, and made her safe. She never trusted anyone as much as she trusted Zoe when she was younger, and somehow through all the time they had spent apart, that trust had remained intact and had only grown from the moment they had reunited with one another.

“It’s okay baby, you don’t have to apologize for that. I understand why you chose to blame me for what happened, and I’m so incredibly sorry I wasn’t there for you like I promised to be. Madison, I love you.” The words hung between them and the air started to become thick before she closed the sliver of space between them and captured the blondes lips in a kiss. She pushed her fingers through the strands of her hair and twisted slightly, holding her face firmly with her free hand. She was scared, she really was, but she was trying so hard to help the older witch face her fears, and so she thought it was only fair to face her own fears as well. Zoe had always been bad at love, whether it was a boy or a girl who was her significant other, it ended the same way every time. She was scared to have sex with said boy or girl, and they would get impatient or tired and would either dump her or cheat on her which was an automatic breakup anyways. She was still a virgin because of her fear of love, and she was determined to change that. She loved the girl sitting in front of her, heart and soul, and she was determined to prove that in any way possible, even if it meant facing her fear of falling in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated! <3


	7. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ Warning: This chapter mentions sexual activities and is not recommended for people under 16. However, if you feel like you are mature enough to read this chapter by all means, please help yourself, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. ]

It was later on that night and Zoe was sitting on her bed, reading another book. She was nearing the climax of the book when her phone pinged with a text message. She marked her place in her book and picked up her phone, tapping on her messages and reading the text she had just received.

"Hey I’m not sure if you remember me but it’s Connor. I got your number from your old Facebook page and just wanted to say hi. How are you?"

She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to respond since she hadn’t talked to Connor in middle school and knew next to nothing about him but she knew she couldn’t ignore him so she quickly typed back a reply and went back to reading her book. She only got a few more pages in before her phone went off once more. She sighed and picked it up, holding the book open on her lap as she read the message over and over again.

"That’s really good Zo. Um I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out, catch up a bit and possibly grab a bite to eat. I really have missed seeing your beautiful face everyday."

Her insides twisted at the way he had called her Zo. It sounded foreign coming from him, and she didn’t like that at all. Madison had specifically reserved that nickname for her, and she was the only one that was allowed to call her that. She left the text unanswered and resumed reading the paragraph on the page she had stopped at. The door opened and she looked up to see Madison entering. The blonde smiled softly at her before walking over to her bed and flopping down on it, crawling up so that her head was in her lap. She closed the book in front of her and used both hands to play with her hair, winding her finger around one strand and smoothing it out and then repeating the process. It was at that exact moment her phone went off once again and her heart fell out of her ass as Madison picked it up and read the new message she had gotten seconds prior.

“Connor huh? An old boyfriend of yours or something?” She had sat up and was holding Zoe’s hand firmly in her grasp, her face slightly reddening at the thought of an old boyfriend contacting her out of nowhere and with really no good reason. She quickly shook her head and coaxed the phone out of her hand and placed it on the plain white nightstand by her bed.

“No, he was just someone from middle school that I haven’t talked to in forever. I don’t even know why he decided to text me, but I couldn’t be rude and leave him on read. I only ignored him when he brought up the idea of a date. You have nothing to be jealous of Madsie, I promise.” She pecked her cheek really quick and offered her a goofy smile, which enticed a pillow fight and two very exhausted teenage girls. It was early, but the days events had worn the both of them out, and so they climbed into Zoe’s bed together and wrapped themselves around one another and before both of them knew it, they had both drifted off to sleep.

 

 

The next day, the girls were out running some mundane errands and picking ingredients up for their headmistress, who instructed them to come back as quickly as possible due to the new threat that had risen, witch hunters. Zoe couldn’t deny the paranoia she felt as she walked out of the shop with her blonde counterpart, who also looked paranoid. They held each others pinkies loosely as they went from location to location, gathering the things that they were requested to and laughing at whatever dumb thing caught their attention. As they were exiting the last shop and going to head home, a tall body bumped into her which nearly made her drop the bag of things she had but she caught herself and held onto the paper bag, looking up at whoever had so rudely invaded her personal space. Her breath caught in her throat as she made eye contact with the tall figure, who turned out to be none other than Connor, the boy who had contacted her sometime last night.

“Zoe! I had no idea you were going to be here! New Orleans is smaller than I thought it would be.” He looked down at her and she squirmed under his scrutiny filled gaze. She looked at Madison, who was glaring daggers at the boy blocking their way home, and then back at him, who didn’t even notice the hate filled gaze he was receiving at this very moment. She caught a nervous edge to his voice but she chose not to comment on that. Instead, she plastered a fake grin at her face and feigned enthusiasm at him somehow knowing exactly where she was.

“Connor! Uh yeah, I guess so. I didn’t expect to see you here, how long have you been here exactly?” He gave her a relaxed smile before answering smoothly that he was on an internship and arrived a few months earlier, right around the same time Zoe had found herself relocated to New Orleans. She got a sick feeling in her stomach by his answer but she kept up the fake enthusiasm, even asking a few questions about his internship, pretending to be interested as he picked apart every question and gave her full length answers, never once taking his eyes off of her. The blonde at her side found herself growing angrier and angrier by the second and she felt the hand she had secured around the paper bag to her chest twitch but she refrained from using her powers at the moment, instead keeping her gaze trained solely on him, trying to find that fatal flaw about him.

“Well, it was good seeing you Connor but we gotta run, we’re expected back at the academy we attend so.. see you around i suppose. Bye!” She grabbed Madison’s free hand and quickly took off down the sidewalk, barely giving the shorter girl time to catch up with her. When they had gotten out of earshot, she finally let go of her hand and sat down on the edge of the sidewalk, breathing in and out deeply. She joined her on the sidewalk and rubbed her back, trying to soothe her which seemed to work after a while since her breathing returned to normal and she stopped shaking.

“Madsie, there’s something… off about him. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I don’t trust him at all. I mean he’s still the Connor I knew from middle school, just incredibly taller and more sure of himself but he was definitely hiding something from me.” She chewed on her thumbnail as she stared at the street, her mind somewhere far off. She nodded her agreement and she stood up, extending her hand down to the brunette, who took it almost immediately and pulled herself up, grabbing the paper bag and taking another deep breath before linking her pinky with the blonde’s once more, and holding it well after they had gotten back inside the house. When they had delivered the things Cordelia had needed to her office, they retired to their room, shutting and locking the door behind them. She walked over to her bed, grabbing her laptop off the charger by her nightstand before settling down, crossing her legs to use as a makeshift table for the Macbook. Madison joined her, sitting down next to her and laying her head on her shoulder as she watched what the girl next to her was doing.

“Huh just as I expected, he lied to me. He’s not linked to any internship here in New Orleans or anywhere for that matter. It says on his Facebook page that he’s a grad student but it doesn’t say where. He’s a fraud basically.” She sounded irritated and that’s when she got an idea.

“Well why don’t we message some of his friends? I can seduce them into giving us the answers that we need. I don’t trust him either babe, and we need to take all precautions that we can to keep ourselves and our coven safe.” Zoe nodded at what the blonde had suggested, but she wasn’t listening as well as she should have, she was distracted by the situation at hand, not to mention that she was also very angry that he had lied to her. So she grabbed her phone and scrolled down her contacts list and selected ‘lying asshole’ and before she could even think, she shot him a text, not knowing just how much danger she was putting herself in.

"Hey Con, I can definitely do dinner with you. How does seven o clock tomorrow night sound?"

 

 

It was the next day, and the two teenage girls were coming up with a scheme to reveal Connor’s true motive for being in New Orleans, and to fuck with him enough to where he would leave them alone for good. They had escaped to a nearby shop before dawn this morning, and got enough ingredients to concoct a truth serum, which Zoe would use on him on their date tonight, which he had gladly agreed to. They had gotten back just as the other witches started to wake up, and they had to be quick about making the serum so they had locked their bedroom door and said the chant over and over again over the now finished serum and once they had figured it had sufficed, they poured it into a tiny vial which she placed in the drawer she and Madison had shared since she had arrived. They lounged around the room, occasionally making out and spending the rest of the time trying to dig up more dirt on Connor, which proved to be disappointingly unsuccessful for them. Before they knew it, the sky had began to darken and it was time for her to get ready for her date. She wanted to be classy originally but she knew that she would have to dress more… provocative than she would have liked to. She had borrowed something from the girl across the room, who watched her get ready with hot liquid running through her veins. She hated that the brunette was subjecting herself to this, and she wished she was in her place because she was more trained in the area of fucking people for what she wanted, and she knew her vagina wouldn’t kill anyone at the expense like she was sure Zoe’s would.

“You’re not fucking him tonight, are you?” She walked across the room and zipped her dress the rest of the way up, settling her curled locks over her shoulders, loving the outcome of the way she had styled the taller girls hair, thinking that it suited her quite nicely. She looked at her through the mirror with wide eyes and she furiously shook her head, slightly scowling at the question.

“Don’t do that, you’ll give yourself wrinkles.” She gave her a soft peck on the lips, before turning back to the mirror and giving her a 50 watt smile. Zoe was so fucking beautiful, she sometimes was stunned into silence. She was beautiful in a way that not a lot of people were, it was natural and real, and she fucking loved it, she loved her. She shook her head before fingering one of her curls slightly and stepping back, watching the way the dress moved around her body as she reached for her clutch, slipping the vial of serum inside along with her phone. The blonde tried to ignore her cleavage as she stood in front of her, but she couldn’t resist peeking so she did just once, immediately jealous of the way the dress fit Zoe better than it would ever fit her, and she loved the way she looked to be extremely confident while wearing it, which was another thing on her agenda to help the brunette out with her self esteem and body issues.

“You gotta get going babe. I’ll follow in a car with Nan and Queenie, just in case anything was to happen to you.” She guided her out the door and down the stairs with a gentle hand to the back and she was hesitant to give her girl to the expectant guy waiting for her on the stoop but she eventually removed her hand from her back and used it to squeeze her hand and give her a gentle push to the back. She smiled fakely and calling for them to have a good time from the doorway and waved until the car pulled away from the curb and that’s when she sprung into action. She gathered the other two young witches and piled into the car with them, claiming the front seat so she could have a better angle to watch them from. As Queenie pulled out of the driveway, she got a text containing the address of the place they were going to dinner at, and she was perplexed but gave the address to the girl driving nonetheless, ordering her to step on the gas and get them there as quickly as possible. When they drove for 20 minutes or so, that’s when she knew something was very wrong. She saw the car up ahead, but there was no one inside, and Zoe’s clutch had been abandoned in the front seat of the car. 

“FUCK!” She yelled, kicking the car door as hard as she could, pleased to see a dent where her boot had made contact, and she stomped back over to the car, nearly yanking the door off of the hinges and slamming it so hard behind her that the glass in all the windows vibrated, but she could care less at this moment. All she cared about was Zoe and finding her, and then kicking Connor’s balls so far up his throat that they would come out of his throat, and that was least tame thing she had planned to do to him. The girls combed over the town for a straight hour, coming up with nothing which only further frustrated her. Her phone suddenly began to ring, startling all three of the girls inside the car. She quickly answered it and was relieved to hear Zoe’s voice, but it was frantic and strained, and she knew the timeframe they had to find her was closing and closing fast. 

“Madison help me! He’s a witch hunter and he’s got me in s-some cabin and I’m scared and cold and I’m hurting all over my body and he’s going to be back soon with more hunters and they’re going to kill me.” She began to sob and they only grew in crescendo. She tried to calm her down, but a scream pierced her ears and the call dropped.

“No no no baby girl don’t do this please.” She attempted to redial the number, but it went straight to voicemail, and she let out a growl as she tossed her phone to the floor, muttering a few words underneath her breath. She had been around Zoe many times intimately to be able to use a locator spell on her, and she thanked whatever God there was as she finally got a location, which she told to Queenie, who stepped on the gas and zoomed past cars in order to get there so they could save the life of their fellow witch, who they had all grown to care deeply about during her short stay there. When they pulled up to the hunters cabin, Madison was the first to throw herself out of the car, running as fast as her legs would carry her to the open door, which revealed a bleeding Zoe near the open back door. Her dress was torn and her breasts were exposed in the chilly night air, along with her upper thighs and underwear. Blood stained her collarbones and basically any other inch of skin that was available to anyone watching, and she winced as she saw at least three large gashes in her soft skin. Those sick fucks had left her for dead, and she grew nauseous at the fact that she could have lost the love of her life tonight, and wouldn’t have even known what happened.

“Zoe baby, I’m here. Please don’t leave me again, you promised.” Tears were streaming down her face and Nan and Queenie watched from the doorway, noticing the way she clutched the unresponsive brunette’s hand like a lifeline and the way she used her hand to brush her bloody hair away from her face to better analyze her injuries, which appeared to be fatal even from where they were standing. It was at that exact moment that the two witches discovered the feelings the cold hearted blonde had for the doe eyed, kind hearted brunette, and so they made a decision to silently bring their new friend back from the dead but not just for the sake of them and their coven, but the girl who kneeled by her body, crying her heart out. They joined hands and muttered an incantation over and over again and with a flick of their wrists, she shot up, coughing and clutching her chest.

“M-Madison?” Her eyes were wide and she was violently shaking, not yet noticing her obvious nudity, and she reached out for her, sighing when she made contact with her. They embraced one another and mumbled soft words to one another and that’s when she noticed her lack of clothing. She pulled away quickly and covered her breasts with her hands, suddenly feeling very shy. It was typical, Zoe had just died and she was shy about the circumstances she had died under.

“Yeah baby I’m here, let’s go home.” She helped her to her feet and wrapped an arm securely around her waist, holding her up without ease. She took a step and winced as pain rippled throughout her body, but she ignored it and continued forward with the help of the protective blonde, who held onto her as tightly as she could without upsetting her wounds. They limped out to the car, and Nan took the front seat while the two girls climbed into the backseat, clutching onto one another all the way home and even afterwards, when they were safe and warm inside of the house and in the bathroom. Zoe insisted on taking a shower, but she didn’t want to be alone, so she held on tightly to the taller girls arm, refusing to let go until she agreed to accompany her to the bathroom. When they got into the bathroom, Madison started to run water into the bathroom, helping the brunette out of her tattered gown, and guided her into the warm water, wincing when she saw the multiple cuts covering her skin, and she grabbed a bottle of shampoo and massaged the small amount she had poured into her hand through her blood saturated locks of hair, trying to be as gently as possible so she didn’t touch a sensitive spot she didn’t know about yet. She rinsed off her arms with the now lukewarm water and helped her out of the tub, wrapping a big towel around her small body and leading her back to the bedroom, going to sit her down on the bed when she stopped her.

“Madison, I don’t want to be afraid anymore.. Tonight taught me just how short life is and I don’t want to spend the majority of it being scared. I love you and I was so sure tonight would be the last time I ever saw your beautiful smile or heard your infectious laugh. I couldn’t even imagine life without you in it, and that’s the god's honest truth. I want to prove to you that I love you, in every way possible, so this is me taking life by the horns and going along for the ride.” She unwrapped the towel from her body, and it fell to the floor. She made no move to cover her battered body, and she swallowed hard as the blonde slowly walked towards her, brushing her fingers over the gash that now resided on her collarbone. She flinched slightly, but held her gaze steadily, as her finger continued a gentle path down her arm and stopped at her fingers, which were littered with tiny knife cuts.

“Oh Zoe…” She whispered as she truly realized the torture the younger witch went through, and she couldn’t help but blame herself as she was the one who pushed her into the idea of going out with him to gather more evidence to confirm the suspicions she had against him. She felt tears gather on her eyelashes as she felt the abrasions underneath her fingertip and all she wanted to do was fall to her knees and beg for the forgiveness of the girl who so steadily held her glance with a shy half smile dancing at the corner of her lips. 

“Don’t talk. Just hold me.” She said, grabbing her hand and holding it close to her heart, her eyes full of nothing but love and awe for her, for their relationship, and for the future she was sure they would have together. They shared a small smile and their lips met in a clash of passion and fire. They explored each others bodies gently and curiously, and clothes flew across the room in a heap before they fell onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and wandering hands. Fingers brushed over breasts and other areas and moans filled the room, mixing together in the sweetest symphony. Her head was clear of thoughts as she completely lost herself in Madison’s kisses and more importantly, the undeniable love she harbored for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated. <3


	8. Iris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you live in California, I hope that you and your family are safe, my heart is completely with you.

Today was a day that Zoe hated with every fiber of her being. It was her 18th birthday, which was a day that had never been too important to her, since her family always forgot or gave her some dumb meaningless gift that she knew they spent way too much money on. She hoped that the blonde sleeping soundly next to her didn’t remember what today’s occasion was, because she knew that her girlfriend would want to do something extravagant for her, and she didn’t want any type of celebration at all.

“Whatcha thinking about?” She heard her say groggily, her voice thick with sleep as she struggled to prop herself up on her elbow to look at the brunette, who was deep in thought. She shook the thoughts from her head and smiled softly at her, running her fingers through the hair that was at the crown of her head, relishing the way it felt underneath her fingertips.

“Nothing, I just want to spend time with you today. It’s Saturday and I actually want to go somewhere for once, surprising huh? You know the party scene better than I do, so where do you suggest we go?” Her green eyes lit up at her words and she jolted into a sitting position, pulling Zoe out of bed with her. She pulled her over to the wardrobe they shared and began rifling through her endless amount of clothing, trying to find an outfit that would fit the aesthetic of the place she had picked out already for them to spend their Saturday night, which was also special to her because it was the brunette’s 18th birthday, which is something she thought everyone should be celebrating because it’s what the caring girl standing next to her deserved. She honestly felt offended that her girlfriend thought she had forgotten about it, she couldn’t even if she tried, it being the only date seared into her brain she was sure would be forever.

“Well it looks like you’ve already gotten our Saturday night planned out.” She chuckled as Madison held up article after article of clothing to her girlfriends tall frame, trying to decide what would look best on her and make her comfortable at the same time. She felt her fingers brush against lacy material and she retrieved the sleeveless top, automatically knowing that this was the one, the piece of clothing that would flatter everything good about the girl standing next to her. She looked through the wardrobe again in search of a pair of pants, and she came across a simple pair of jeggings, with tiny rips on the knees that she had since she was 13, mainly because Zoe had gifted them to her for her birthday that year and it was the only thing she had left of her when she left, besides the endless amount of polaroids she had taken of her without her knowledge. She pulled them from the hanger they were on and held them out to her, her eyes lighting up as she watched her run her slender fingers over the simple fabric, smiling softly to herself.

“This is really great Madsie, thank you.” She pulled her into her arms for a hug and she buried her face in the blonde’s neck, sighing as she felt her arms holding her just as tightly as hers was holding her. They pulled away from one another, but not without a sweet peck on the lips first and she placed the clothes on the desk that held their laptop into a neat pile, and she led them back over to the bed, falling into the soft comforter with audible schoolgirl giggles and eager fingertips.

 

It was later on that night, and the two girls were getting ready to go out for the night. After spending practically all day in bed together, Zoe was ansty to get out of the house for the first time in a while and Madison was just excited for her girlfriend to have a great time and a great birthday tonight. Unbeknownst to her, she had secretly invited Nan and Queenie to join them whilst they were decorating the abandoned building that her birthday party was going to be held in while the brunette was napping earlier that afternoon, only because she knew she would have more fun if their friends as well as other witches from various local covens came along too. She wanted tonight to be perfect, and she would make sure that it was no matter what. She peeked at Zoe out of the corner of her eye, falling in love with her all over again as she watched her run a brush gently through her semi curled locks, wincing as she accidentally dragged the bristles of the brush across her index finger. Even in moments like this, the blonde couldn’t keep the love she had for the taller witch to herself, which is why she went over to her and grabbed her hand, pressing a sweet kiss to the part of her finger that was red and irritated from the bristles connecting with her fair skin. She smiled at the blush that drew itself across her high cheekbones and she couldn’t resist the urge to press her lips against the place where the blush was most prominent.

“I really do look beautiful tonight don’t I?” She asked softly as she gazed at herself in the mirror, taken aback by how well of a job the blonde hovering over her shoulder did on her makeup, hair, and outfit. She felt arms wrap around her torso and a face nuzzle into her shoulder as her gaze remained solely on her reflection, which stared curiously back at her.

“You do.” She heard her say into the bare skin of her shoulder, shivering slightly as her breath warmed that certain spot. She suddenly became shy and turned around so that her front was facing the shorter girl, who looked up at her with a gaze so full of love that she felt tears prick at her eyes. She had never been loved by someone so much in her life, and she only hoped that she would love her even after they decided to part ways with the coven. The door opened and her sister witches looked briefly at them and then to the bed, which was disheveled and unmade as it normally was.

“We should probably get going, beat the traffic of all the drunks trying to make it into bars tonight.” Queenie said, trying to force herself not to smile at the loving embrace the two were in. She was happy for them, and she saw just how much Madison loved her, despite always acting like a selfish stone cold bitch prior to the lanky brunette joining their coven. She was happy that the blonde had something to hold on to, something that made her happy and appreciative of the life she had been given, and she was just happy that someone loved her as much as she loved them. 

“Oh, I didn’t know you guys were joining us. Hell yeah, even more fun tonight for us then. Madison has to finish getting dressed but we’ll meet you guys downstairs in 10 minutes or so.” She gave them a genuine smile as they shut the door behind them, leaving them alone once more.

“You’re gonna look absolutely amazing Madsie.” She stated as she watched the blonde shed her pajamas and step into the simple black t-shirt dress, struggling to zip it up. She walked over to her and zipped up the last infuriating inches and smiled at her through the reflective surface of the wardrobe, resisting the urge to run her fingers through her hair. 

“Are we all set then?” She asked, pulling on her combat boots and putting her hair into a black beanie, topping it off with a checkered black and white scarf that she had purchased a few years back for reasons she couldn’t really recall. She held her hand out to the brunette sitting on the bed and pulled her up off of the bed, exiting the bedroom without turning the light off.

 

 

Traffic wasn’t as bad as Zoe thought it would be as they cruised through the streets of New Orleans, admiring the lights that gave downtown a more relaxing glow, which is how she hoped tonight would be. She had her hand firmly grasped in the blonde’s smaller hand, running her finger over the side of her thumb every few moments for no particular reason but to remind herself that she was safe, and Connor couldn’t hurt her tonight. She hadn’t talked to anyone about what had happened to her, although she should have at least taken it to Cordelia, who would have been nothing but supportive about it, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. What she went through was the most traumatic thing of her life, but she didn’t want anyone to worry about it, so she decided to keep it bottled inside, and because no one knew the extent of how horrible the torture was for her and she wanted to keep it that way. Her hands were starting to become clammy and she prayed that she wouldn’t notice because she didn’t have the energy or even the heart to explain the whole situation to her girlfriend, who would undoubtedly try to seek revenge. If she noticed her clammy palms though, she said nothing about it, and they continued to ride along in silence, the sounds of the partiers on Bourbon Street being the only thing that they could hear for miles. They drove until they were away from all of the lights, and Madison instructed Queenie to make a right down a narrow path that was lit only with a few streetlights. She was kind of worried, though she knew she shouldn’t be, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach wouldn’t go away until she knew for sure where they were going. Her worries were short lived however, when she spotted a building in the distance, lit up enough to be able to see it from where they were on the street. When the older teen driving the car pulled up to the only available spot outside the building, it fully registered to her what Madison had planned for her.

“Happy birthday Zoe.” She said softly, kissing her on the cheek before exiting the car, rushing over to her side to open the door for her, her mission to make this the perfect night already in motion.

“You didn’t have to do this for me, you know.” She said as the blonde linked their arms together, pulling her over to where Nan and Queenie were waiting for them, bright smiles plastered on both of their faces as they opened the doors for the two girls, who stepped over the threshold and into a flurry of activity. The medium sized building was decorated beautifully, purple and blue streamers hanging from the rafters, which were her two favorite colors in the whole world. She looked at all of the party guests, not recognizing a majority of them but still being excited that they attended anyways, and her face already hurt from smiling so much. 

“Hey cutiepie.” She heard a voice come from beside her and she smiled even wider as she rushed into the arms of Misty, who looked just as excited to see her. She pulled away and touched her face softly, smiling at her as they conversed briefly, making plans to meet up again soon. Most people assumed they weren’t close, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. Misty was older than Zoe, but she admired the younger witch so much to even begin mentoring her briefly when she first discovered the powers she had. They talked for a few more minutes before parting ways, promising see each other again before the party came to its conclusion. She looked over the heads of the crowd and slightly panicked when she didn’t see her girlfriend anywhere in sight.

“Hey, I’m here.” She felt arms wrap around her and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that it was only Madison, her cheeks flushed and her eyes shining bright under the fluorescent lighting. Most people would have mistaken her as being drunk or high on drugs, but if you really knew Madison Montgomery, then you knew this is how she got when she was incredibly relaxed and happy, and she was glad that she was responsible for that.

“Come on, the band is about to start playing.” She intertwined their fingers and they made their way through the crowd, never losing their grip on one another not once. When they got closer to the stage, she let go of the brunette’s hand and climbed onto stage, grabbing the microphone a raven haired witch had ready for her, and she spoke into it, ordering everyone to be quiet.

“I’m so glad that you all could make it here today. It means a lot to me, and to the birthday girl, who hasn’t stopped smiling since we walked through the doors together. The first song of the night is one that I know Zoe has loved since we were younger, and a song that I think perfectly describes just how I feel about her. She saved my life multiple times without even realizing it, and I’m just so thankful that I can share this moment with her. I love you Zoe Benson, always and forever.” She handed the microphone back to the girl and stepped off of the stage with the help of Queenie and Misty, who were right there to catch her in case she fell. Tears were welling in her eyes as the first chords of Iris by Goo Goo Dolls began and she pressed a hand against her mouth as the blonde held her hand out to her, asking her with her eyes if she wanted to dance with her. They held hands for the fourth time today as they made their way to the middle of the dance floor, the crowd parting to give them reservation. She placed a hand on her the shorter girls shoulder and a hand firmly on her waist, and she mirrored her actions, stepping slightly on the brunette’s feet to make her appear taller. They danced in a circle, never taking their eyes off of one another. She melted into the moment as the song floated around them, making tears gather in her eyes for the second time tonight.

“Madison Montgomery, I love you more than I ever thought possible. I never ever ever expected to love you as much as I do right now, but I’m glad that it was you. You’re the light of my life and I hope I always have you, no matter what happens.” Tears were freeing flowing down her face now, but she didn’t want to wipe them away because that meant having to take her hands off of the blonde and at the moment, that was the last thing that she wanted to do. If she could freeze this moment, then she would but time didn’t allow that, so she just savoured the moment with the blonde who she cared more about than anyone else in this world, she would gladly give her life for her and she vowed that in that moment, she would. They danced the rest of the night, and if they took a break, they would find ways to keep touching each other, whether it be gripping fabric of clothes of fleeting touches on the cheek. The party goers knew how much they loved each other, and some of them had to even wipe tears from their own eyes whenever they shared a touching moment or even looked at each other as tenderly as they did. As the crowd dwindled, they all wished the young couple the absolute best, and only hoped that time would treat them well for as long as they remained together. Oh how wrong they would find themselves being in just a short amount of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated. <3


	9. Rewind

Zoe Benson woke up the next morning feeling completely at peace. She hadn’t remembered coming home from her birthday party last night, but she was thankful her fellow witches looked out for her and made sure she was okay in getting home. Madison had left the party 20 minutes before it had officially ended, saying something about getting a birthday present, which is what she didn’t really want, the thoughtful birthday party was more than enough for her, but her girlfriend was as persistent as she was which led to an argument unwon on her end. She rolled over, expecting to feel soft blonde hair or a warm cheek underneath her fingers, but she was met with the rough bed sheets and complete disappointment. She opened her eyes and saw the side of the bed the blonde usually occupied had been unslept on, which made her panic as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and padded over to the door, opening it quietly and tiptoeing down the stairs, careful not to disturb anything in her path to alert anyone that she was awake yet. She heard voices coming from the kitchen and so she followed them, stopping just before the entrance to the kitchen and peering around the corner, hiding herself as best as she could. She saw Madison sitting at the table with Nan, Queenie, and Cordelia, who were laughing at something that she said. She looked so beautiful from where she was standing that she wanted to dig out her old camera from her belongings and snap an instant picture of her, but she was afraid the moment would pass by too quickly, and unfortunately it did. She swallowed her disappointment as she craned her neck to hear what they were saying, but she was unsuccessful and she huffed, moving closer to closer to the entrance of the kitchen but by then it was too late. She collided with the wood paneled floor and the air escaped from her lungs as she felt pain spread throughout her body. 

“Holy shit Zo!” She heard the blonde say as she rushed from her seat to help her off of the floor, which she was grateful for. She leaned against her girlfriend as the other witches sat at the table, completely shocked by what had just happened but also slightly amused, knowing that she was eavesdropping because that’s just what kind of person she was, she hated being left out of anything, no matter how big or small it may have been. 

“I’m good.” She said after a few moments, releasing the iron grip she had on the shorter girls shirt and moving slightly away from her but still lingering in case she felt like she was going to fall again. Madison suggested that they go upstairs and let her lay down and as much as she wanted to protest, she couldn’t find it in herself to, so she allowed herself to be led up the staircase and down the spiraling hall to their room, where she proceeded to tuck her into bed and sit on the comforter next to her, stroking the hairs that were sticking to her forehead away in an attempt to calm her down and to remind her that she was there, just like she would always be. 

“Mads? You really didn’t have to get me a birthday present. The party last night was more than enough, and you know that’s all that I would want anyway so why trouble yourself?” The look on her face was curious and she looked into her green eyes and wondered how much she had actually spent on whatever she had gotten for her, and she hoped that it wasn’t as expensive as she thought it would be.

“Actually, it was homemade. Um, I didn’t want to buy you something that was fake or anything, I wanted it to be from the heart, and I hope I achieved that.” She went over to the desk that held their shared laptop and a small lamp that had been a gift to her, and opened the very last drawer, retrieving a simple plain white box. She shut the door with her foot as she made her way back over to the twin size bed, plopping down on the bed and holding the box on her lap as she waited for the brunette to pull herself into a sitting position against the wall. Once she was situated, she handed the box to her, suddenly feeling very timid. Zoe took the box from her visibly nervous girlfriend and carefully removed the lid, looking at the contents of the box. Inside was a leather bound scrapbook with the letters Z and M glued to the front of it. She felt a smile find its way onto her face as she flipped open the cover and stopped to read the hand written inscription on the page 

'Zo,  
I will love you until every last star in the galaxy dies and even after, I will love you.  
-M'

She felt her eyes well up with tears as she traced her fingers over the smoothly written letters, feeling as if she was there with the blonde when she wrote it. She flipped to the next page and immediately was bombarded with pictures of herself, but pictures of her from 5 years ago rather than present day. She was smiling in almost all of them and almost never looking in the direction of the camera, which made her think that the blonde had taken them when she was off guard, she did have a knack for photography when they were young teens after all. She flipped another page and saw a picture she hadn’t knew she had held onto all of these years. It was the two of them, smiling brightly outside of their former middle school without a care in the world. She didn’t have to look at the back to know what it said:

'Z&M best friends forever and ever.'

The farther she progressed in the book, the more emotional she became. Memory after memory washed over her as she viewed more and more old pictures, all of which she was smiling in and looking at the blonde as if she was her life, which she could say now that she was. She hadn’t know it then, but she was in love with her best friend and through photographs it was incredibly easy to be able to figure it out. Every year they grew together was a year that both of them fell more in love with one another than they thought was possible. She reached the last page and was surprised to see a polaroid of them from last night, but she was glad that someone had done what she had wanted to. She carefully removed it from the plastic casing and held it in her hands, admiring how happy the two of them were. Their faces were widened with bright smiles and Madison was looking at her as if she was the light in the darkest part of the room, which in a way, she was. They had their arms around one another and looked so in love that she couldn’t stop the tears anymore. She felt them slide freely down her cheeks as she turned the photo over, crying even more when she saw what the blonde had written on the back with a black sharpie.

'you’re the closest to heaven I’ll ever be.'

She placed the photo back into the protective casing and shut the book, holding it close to her chest as she wept. She had never gotten such a heartfelt gift in her life and she cherished it so much already that she hoped that she would never have to part from it, at least not soon anyways. She put the book inside of the box and wrapped her arms around the blonde, who was teary eyed as well. They held onto one another for what felt like hours, relishing in this moment, and savoring it for when they would not be together anymore. They both felt it as they held each other, but they chose to ignore the feeling of dread both of them had settling in the bottom of their stomachs. They pulled apart and sat on the bed, smiling at one another as they talked about something that wouldn’t seem as important to other people as it did to them, and they basked in the feeling of one another's presence, both of them holding this memory as close to their hearts as humanly possible, and hoped that it would be enough to keep them warm in times of peril. The rest of their afternoon was spent with the other witches that shared the house with them, joking around and even having a late birthday dinner to celebrate her birthday that Cordelia was unable to attend. As the night wasted away and everyone else fell into their beds out of exhaustion, the two girls were wide awake, watching movies and giving each other makeovers just like old times, snickering at things that only the two of them would understand, and just living as if they were teenagers again without any weight on their frail shoulders. They went to bed that night holding each other as they always did, but tonight it was different. Maybe it was the feeling that both of them had earlier that afternoon, but it felt like this would be the last time they ever held one another like this and they fell asleep hoping that it wasn’t true. 

If only they knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated. <3


	10. Apocalypse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [spoilers for last weeks episode so read at your own risk.]

The world as everyone had known it, had since been reduced to nothing but ash and bone and the blonde had never felt more alone in her life. Her, Myrtle, and Cordelia was all that was left of their coven, the rest having been slaughtered by their new biggest enemy, supposed Antichrist Michael, whose robot minion Ms Mead had ruthlessly killed all of her friends and the love of her life without even batting a fucking eye. She was angry and heartbroken that she had to go through all of this by herself, she ached for the presence of the lanky brunette, who had always known how to make her feel better. She had felt warm whenever Zoe was around, but now all she felt was cold and bitter, which was a terrible combination. Some nights were worse than others, some nights the older witches could hear her quiet cries from the room they had decided to give her by herself but the next morning, they would never say anything about it because they could see how miserable and heartbroken she was at the sudden loss of the girl who saved her life so many times in the past. She was in her room now, holding onto tightly to a body pillow and imagining that it was the taller witch, even hearing her contagious laughter ring through her scrambled brain. She sat up and felt tears escape from the corner of her eyes, but she did nothing to wipe them away or staunch the flow, she just sat there, looking at the dirty soot covered wall in front of her. She reached into the front of her dress and pulled out the photograph she had been holding onto since the day she had lost her beloved to remind her to keep going, no matter how shitty she felt when she woke up on a new day. It was the Polaroid taken of them on Zoe’s 18th birthday, which seemed a whole entire lifetime away now. She felt her heart break as she gazed at their hopeful expressions and smiling faces, wishing not for the first time that she could rewind time back to that day specifically, and let the brunette know just how much she had loved her, even though she was already very aware of the love the blonde had always possessed for her. She flipped the photo over and ran her fingers over the bumpy and fading words she had scribbled onto the back in a hurry to give it to her girlfriend when she had planned to, although the present was a little bit late anyways.

 

_'You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be.'_

 

She had regretted not saving the whole scrapbook, but she knew with the loss of her still so fresh, she wouldn’t have been able to handle thumbing through the pages. She already felt as if she was drowning without her so she knew that she would have been completely submerged if she had the book as a reminder that she couldn’t save the brunette, who had died in such a terrible terrible way, a way that she had wished happened to her instead of the happy and carefree hazel eyed girl, who always seemed to be smiling no matter how bad a situation was. She flipped the picture back over and touched the brunette’s smiling face, almost feeling the warmth she had spread through her chest, almost.

 

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t save you. I’m so fucking sorry Zoe.” She sobbed as she laid back down on the uncomfortable comforter, holding the photo as close to her chest as humanly possible, falling into a fitful and dark sleep.

 

The next morning she woke up with a heart full of determination and green eyes filled with pure hate and rage. She exited the room and placed the photograph back into the pocket on her dress before joining her fellow witches, who were preparing themselves before leaving the bunker in search of the answer to all of their problems. When they left the bunker for good, there was a certain kick to her step. She was going to kill Michael if it was the last thing she ever did,

For what remained of mankind,

For their fallen coven,

_For Zoe._

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is trash since I don’t really know how to write endings hehe so yeah. Kudos and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated. Thank you for all of your support! <33


End file.
